The Cloth, Water, and Food are the forms of Brahma. Ambaram also means the sky. Getting them is not easy, especially in difficult and testing times. God must be kind enough and the seeker of these three must also be a giver.
Goda’s Tamil Pashuram 17
Ambaramay, Thanneeray, Soray, Aaram Seyyum
Emperumaan! Nandagopaala! Ezhundhiraai!
Kombanaar-k-kellam Kozhunday Kula Vilakkay
Emperumaatti! Yashodhaai! Arivuraai!
Ambaran Oodaruththu Ongi Ulagalandha
Umberkomanne! Urangaadhu Ezhundhiraai!
Semborkk-kazhaladi-ch-chelvaa! Baladeva!
Umbiyumneeyumurang-El or Empaavaai
English Poem 17
He, the giver of clothes, water, and food,
O, Our Swami, please wake up Nanda
O, Swamini Yashoda! you are a bright star,
In our clan, Krishna, the God of Gods
Arise and awake, you grew up tearing the sky,
Measured the Universe: Get up soon,
Balarama, with golden anklet, along with
Brother Krishna, please wake up for us.
Nanda Yashoda and Krishna
After waking up ten Gopikas and Aalwaars, Goda reached Nanda King’s palace yesterday with five lakh Gopas and Gopikas, convinced the doorkeepers, and entered. Unless you abandon your ego and use wisdom (doors), you cannot gain entry at all. Then they peeped through the rooms to find where Krishna and Balarama were asleep. First, they saw Nanda, then Yashoda, after her, Krishna, and at last, Balarama.
(Courtesy pic: Late Dr Ramacharya Sribhashyam Srinivasa Family.)
Father of Krishna, Nanda is a dear king of all people because he gives clothes to clothe-less, water, and food to the needy without expecting anything in return. King must provide for the basic needs of the people. He donates and never denies it.
Demons divide people, disrobe women, and kidnap kids
Yashoda is compared with the Prabbali plant, which grows on the banks of a stream. This tree can bend when the stream swells and floods and rise back after the flood cedes. Like a mother, she is quite affectionate and helpful. She is the bright star of the cowherd clan and the mother of all. She is protecting little Krishna from the wrecked looks of demons. Both Yashoda and Nanda fear those destructive elements, that divide brothers, mother and son, create differences among the people to continue to rule etc. The demons like Kamsa-resort to kidnap and kill the children. Nanda and Yashoda are always worried about Krishna and Balarama because the demons are ruling.
Krishna, the God of Gods, rose from being a dwarf to growing as Trivikrama tearing the sky away to measure the Universe with his two steps for the sake of Indra, the King of Angels. After praising Krishna and Balarama, who are distinct with a golden anklet, Gopikas ask brothers to wake up and grant them the result of their Vratha.
Yashoda controls Krishna like Tirumantra
Yashoda here means the giver of Yash, i.e. fame. There is no fame greater than Paramatma. Yashoda could give Paramatma to us. Among the three mantras of Vishnu, Vasudeva, and Narayana, Ashtakshari (Mantra with 8 aksharas) is greatest. Yashoda is like that Tirumantra. Our tradition believes that Mantro Maata (mantra is the mother), and Guruh Pitha (Guru is the father).
The three mothers possessed God as their son – Kausalya, Devaki, and Yashoda. But, Yashoda is blessed more because she could spend lots of years with Krishna and wield complete control over Paramatma. Yashoda could punish and bind Him with a rope with her utmost devotion. Tirumantra (eight-lettered Mantra of Narayana) also has the power of tying down Paramatma. That is why, Yashoda is considered a mantra herself. Waking up Yashoda means understanding and invoking the Narayana mantra. Nanda is the giver of Mantra Acharya, Yashoda is the Mantra herself, and Krishna is the meaning or purpose of the mantra. Gopikas are invoking Acharya, Mantra, and Mantrartha.
Vishnu heard the prayer of brother Indra and other Devatas who were displaced by Bali, the king of Asuras. Vishnu assures them to restore their kingdom. For their purpose, He is the incarnation of generosity. He becomes a beggar and seeks alms from Bali as Vaman (the dwarf). When Bali assures him of the donation, He grows higher and higher, tears up the sky, goes beyond, measures two Lokas with two feet, and asks for the third step to get three feet of the promised land. He obtains Rajya from Bali and gives it back to Indra. His devotee and younger brother Indra pray with devotion completely surrendering to Him.
Importance of cloth: Ambarame
This Pashuram deals with Cloth, Water, and Food. When you have it in abundance, you do not value the cloth. Draupadi knows it. Her five husbands, great warriors could not protect her; all other elders like Dhritarashtra, Bhishma, and Drona become helpless spectators, while Dussasana under the command of Duryodhan was disrobing her. The blind king knows what is happening, but keeps quiet blinded by love for his son and jealousy towards Pandavas. Vikarna, the younger brother of Duryodhana, questions, but he is snubbed. Vidura, the incarnation of Dharma, the Prime Minister of Kaurava King objects and advises the King to abandon Duryodhana for this anti-Dharma conduct. The King was silent. Vidura walks out. Helpless Draupadi does not surrender to Duryodhana, but completely surrenders to Krishna with her mind and heart. She prays for His Honour to protect her Honour. She recites the following Shloka.
“Shankha Chakra Gadaa Paane Dwaaraka Nirlayochuta Govinda Pundareekaaksha Rakshamaam Sharanaagathim.? Miraculously, Krishna gives her abundant clothes. Dussasana gets exhausted pulling the clothes out, fails, and falls. It is not known who and wend from shot the clothes. It was explained by Pandits that the past good deeds and Dharma had saved Draupati.
Water
The second word is Tanneere, which means ‘water’. Jaladaanam is a great deed. There is an incident involving Sri Krishna. During the Kurukshetra war, the horses were in dire need of water. They were tired and not in a position to move further. Pandavas had no clue out. Then Sri Krishna uses the Vaarunasthra for to swell up from the underground. The thirst of not only His horses but of all the other horses was quenched. He uses weapons not to kill the rivals but only to help all living creatures. Learn the positive use of destructive weapons.
Food
The next word used by Goda is Shore… which means food. Munis perform Yanja to invoke God and to feed Him with Havya. Little Krishna is around those Rishis performing Yajna, but they do not recognize Him. The Yajna goes on beyond noon. The Gopala Gopikas complain of hunger, and they approach Rishis who refuse to give food until Yajna is completed. Krishna takes them along and approaches the wives of those Munis. No mother can resist when a lovely boy with divine looks and an ever-smiling face is seeking food. They simply give it without bothering about the completion of the Yajna defying the rules and command of their husbands. All children along with Krishna were fed happily. Krishna smiles at Munis who are still bothered about their empty formalities, without recognizing the real God. Every day, Vaishnavas recite a shloka at the time of the offering of food, in which they remember Muni’s wives who fed Krishna with love and affection. “Yaa preetirmuni patni bhakti rachiethe…” Those wives are more blessed than their husbands.
Duryodhana once offered food to Durvasa Muni and his disciples in a sumptuous manner. Pleased by this, Durvasa asked him to seek a boon. Duryodhan wanted him to bless Dharma Raja similarly. He did this with malicious intention that Yudhistira would surely fail leading to the angry curse of Durvasa. But a different thing happened. As he had a huge team with him in exile, Yudhistira found it difficult to feed all of them. He prayed to Surya, who granted an Akshaya Patra. It used to feed any number of people every day. But there is a limitation, that it cannot give any more food for the day, once it is was cleaned. After cleansing the Akshaya Patra, Durvasa approaches them. It was difficult for Pandavas to feed Durvasa’s team. There was no way other than praying to God. Draupadi prays to Krishna to help them out. Krishna arrives, asks her to fetch Akshaya Patra and miraculously finds one grain of rice somewhere and eats it. When the ruler of the whole universe feels satiated with one grain, the whole universe feels fully fed, and so are the members of the team of Muni.
